New Forest School: Education in nature

Two-hundred and forty acres of native forest in the Wairarapa serve as an outdoor school. Kindergarten, day care and school children come to New Forest School in Masterton for a day. Here, kids can be kids, in outdoor classrooms, arenas for nature experiences where they build huts, cook on a fire, and climb steep hills: activities fostering problem-solving skills, persistence and a sense of wonder. Hella Coenen bought the land for New Forest School along with her partner, Joep de Greeuw, leaving Hawkes Bay behind. New Forest Schools is at the end of a gravel road, 18 kilometres north of Masterton on the edge of the Tararua Ranges. Before she retires, Hella takes Kathryn there.